Student Success Story: Sign Points Jeremy Michaud Toward Maine

It’s difficult for Manchester Community College Testing Coordinator Georgette Hyman to imagine life in the college’s Testing Center without student-worker Jeremy Michaud.

“I am going to be at a complete and total loss,” Hyman said in half exaggeration as Michaud prepares to leave Manchester Community College to continue his education at the University of Southern Maine.

Michaud came to work for Hyman as an intern while he was a sophomore at Great Path Academy — the middle-college high school on the MCC campus — in 2008. At the time, neither could image the impact they would have on each other’s lives. Michaud had just turned 16 with little direction, but over the six years working in the Disabilities Services suite, he discovered an aptitude and love for sign language. He will pursue a bachelor’s degree in linguistics at USM with a focus on ASL-English interpretations.

“I always found American Sign Language interesting,” said Michaud, who learned the sign alphabet when he was young and took Sign Language I and II at GPA through MCC. “It was essentially a hobby for me, something I found interesting. It wasn’t until I took Sign Language III that I was like, ‘Oh, I could actually do this for a career.’ ”

Michaud gravitated to the interpreters who often visit the MCC campus to help students and asked a lot of questions. “I started picking their brains and asked them about programs that they knew of.” One of them had a friend who had just graduated from USM and helped steer him in that direction.

Meanwhile, back at the Testing Center, Michaud was developing into Hyman’s go-to guy. Hyman counts on Michaud heavily during the testing seasons, which generally run from April through August and from November through January. Over the six years, Hyman saw Michaud, now 22, develop under her watch.

“We talked about lots of different careers for him,” Hyman said. “It took him a long time to figure out where he wanted to be. I saw this timid, typical teenage boy who was trying to figure how he was going to fit in. He has developed confidence and maturity and understands what it means to be a professional working in an office. He had good social skills and has developed great customer-service skills working with the public, and it all happened here.”

MCC was the logical, and perhaps the only, post-secondary option for Michaud after graduating from GPA in 2010.

“Money was a big issue for me,” said Michaud. “That’s why I decided to come to MCC. For anyone who is not quite sure of what they want to do, but knows they want to continue with their education, MCC is a great place. And your credits at MCC can go just as far as they could at a four-year school. There’s no difference. Along with it being a community college, it’s a place where you can figure out what you want to do while you are getting your general stuff out of the way.”

Both Hyman and Michaud knew the day would come when they would have to part ways.

“It’s sort of a bittersweet thought that he is going to leave and go to the University of Southern Maine,” said Hyman. “I’m thrilled for him because he is going to be successful and he is going to enjoy it and he is actually finally ready for it. He is going to do so well.”

Michaud echoed his mentor. “I’ve loved every moment of it,” he said of his days at MCC, and of the Testing Center that became a second home to him. “I’m sad to go but at the same time we all need to move on, especially someone young like me.”